After dropping to a 3.55 rating for last week’s Jeremy Piven-hosted edition of RAW, the flagship WWE series rebounded this week.
Hosted by Sgt. Slaughter, who was not positioned as an attraction in the vein of Shaquille O’Neal and Piven, this week’s show did a 3.8 rating, off hours of 3.6 and 4.0, according to PWTorch.com
Because quarter hours are not yet available, one cannot be precise in determining what on the show–particularly in the second hour–attracted the solid audience. It would presumably not be incorrect, however, to attribute the strong second hour to combined interest in the Shawn Michaels/Triple H storyline and the John Cena vs. Chris Jericho main event.
This week’s 3.8 is WWE’s third-highest rating since implementing the guest host gimmick. A PWTorch.com report on RAW viewership since the gimmick’s debut interestingly reveals that aside from Shaquille O’Neal, whose edition of RAW scored the highest rating, the celebrity hosts have produced the worst-performing episodes of the program.